EXPANDING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL

• Unemployment Down to 4.0%: The unemployment rate in Arizona has declined from 7.0% to 4.0% since 1993.
• 690,100 New Jobs: 690,100 new jobs have been created in Arizona since 1993 -- an average of 97,426 jobs per year, compared to an average of just 22,525 jobs per year during the previous administration.
• 614,800 New Private Sector Jobs: Since 1993, 614,800 new private sector jobs have been created in Arizona—an average of 86,795 jobs per year, compared to an average of just 13,375 private sector jobs per year in the previous administration.
• 39,600 New Manufacturing Jobs: 39,600 manufacturing jobs have been created in Arizona since 1993 -- an average of 5,591 jobs per year. In contrast, an average of 3,800 manufacturing jobs were lost each year during the previous administration.
• 79,400 New Construction Jobs: 79,400 construction jobs have been created in Arizona since 1993 -- an average of 11,209 jobs per year. In contrast, an average of 2,350 construction jobs were lost each year during the previous administration.
• Poverty Has Fallen: Nationally, the poverty rate has fallen from 15.1% in 1993 to 12.7% in 1998. In Arizona, the poverty rate has fallen from 18.8% in 1997 to 16.9% in 1998 -- down 1.9% in a single year.
• 191,000 Have Received a Raise: Approximately 76,000 Arizona workers benefited from an increase in the minimum wage—from $4.25 to $4.75 -- on October 1, 1996. They, along with about 115,000 more, received an additional raise—from $4.75 to $5.15 -- on September 1, 1997.
• Home Building Up 10.2%: Home building in Arizona has increased by an average of 10.2% per year since 1993, after falling over 0.8% per year during the previous administration.
• A $500 Child Tax Credit to Help Families Raising Children: To help make it easier for families to raise their children, the balanced budget included a $500 per-child tax credit for children under 17. Thanks to President Clinton the Balanced Budget delivers a child tax credit to 403,000 families in Arizona.
• Business Failures Down 11.9% Per Year: Business failures in Arizona have dropped an average of 11.9% per year since 1993, after increasing 49.8% per year during the previous 12 years [Oct 98 data].
• Over $25,000 of Reduced Federal Debt for Every Family of Four: The national debt will be $1.7 trillion lower in FY99 than projected in 1993 -- that's $25,000 less debt for each family of four in Arizona this year.

EXPANDING ACCESS TO EDUCATION

• Over 11,000 Children in Head Start: 11,127 Arizona children were enrolled in Head Start in 1999. In FY00, Arizona will receive $73.7 million in Head Start funding, an increase of $38.9 million over 1993.
• More High-Quality Teachers With Smaller Classes for Arizona's Schools: Thanks to the Class Size Reduction Initiative, Arizona received $17.5 million in 1999 to hire about 450 new, well-prepared public school teachers and reduce class size in the early grades. President Clinton secured funding for a second installment of the plan, giving Arizona an additional $18.9 million in 2000.
• Nearly $7.1 Million in Goals 2000 Funding: This year [FY00], Arizona receives nearly $7.1 million in Goals 2000 funding. This money is used to raise academic achievement by raising academic standards, increasing parental and community involvement in education, expanding the use of computers and technology in classrooms, and supporting high-quality teacher professional development. [Education Department, 12/3/99]
• $6.3 Million for Technology Literacy: This year [FY00], Arizona receives $6.3 million—more than doubling its funding over FY97 -- for the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund which helps communities and the private sector ensure that every student is equipped with the computer literacy skills needed for the 21st century.
• $124.7 Million for Students Most in Need: Arizona will receive $124.7 million in Title I Grants (to Local Educational Agencies) providing extra help in the basics for students most in need, particularly communities and schools with high concentrations of children in low-income families [FY00]. This includes $2.1 million in accountability grants, to help states and school districts turn around the worst performing schools and hold them accountable for results.
• $149.1 Million in Pell Grants: This year [FY00], Arizona will receive $149.1 million in Pell Grants for low-income students going to college, benefiting 76,538 Arizona students.
• Expanded Work-Study To Help More Students Work Their Way Through College: The FY00 budget includes a significant expansion of the Federal Work Study program. Arizona will receive nearly $10 million in Work-Study funding in 2000 to help Arizona students work their way through college.
• Nearly 2,000 Have Served in Arizona through AmeriCorps: Since the National Service program began in 1993, 1,971 AmeriCorps participants have earned money for college while working in Arizona's schools, hospitals, neighborhoods or parks. [through 2/00]
• Tuition Tax Credits in Balanced Budget Open the Doors of College and Promote Lifelong Learning: The balanced budget included both President Clinton's $1,500 HOPE Scholarship to help make the first two years of college as universal as a high school diploma and a Lifetime Learning Tax Credit for college juniors, seniors, graduate students and working Americans pursuing lifelong learning to upgrade their skills. This 20% tax credit will be applied to the first $5,000 of tuition and fees through 2002 and to the first $10,000 thereafter. 138,000 students in Arizona will receive a HOPE Scholarship tax credit of up to $1,500. 169,000 students in Arizona will receive the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit. [fully phased-in FY2000 estimate]
• Expanded Job Training to Arizona's Dislocated Workers: Thanks to President Clinton, the FY99 budget includes a significant expansion in the dislocated worker program. Arizona will receive $14 million in 1999 to help 8,310 of Arizona's dislocated workers get the training and reemployment services they need to return to work as quickly as possible.

FIGHTING CRIME AND VIOLENCE

• Juvenile Arrests Down in Arizona: Under the Clinton-Gore Administration, America has experienced the longest continuous drop in crime on record. Arizona's juvenile murder arrests have decreased 29% between 1992 and 1997. [FBI, Uniform Crime Report, 1992 and 1997]
• 2,162 More Police: The President's 1994 Crime Bill has funded 2,162 new police officers to date in communities across Arizona [through 1/00].
• Reducing Crime with Drug Courts: Working to reduce drug-related crime in Arizona, the Clinton Administration has awarded Drug Court grants to the communities of Peach Springs and Tucson. The Administration had previously awarded grants to a number of Arizona communities including: Campe Verde, Phoenix, Window Rock, Globe, Sacaton, Pascua Tribe, Salt River Scottsdale and Yuma. Drug courts use the coercive power of the criminal justice system to combine drug testing, sanctions, supervision and treatment to push nonviolent, drug-abusing offenders to stop using drugs and committing crimes.
• $16.3 Million to Combat Domestic Violence: Through the Violence Against Women Act, Arizona has received $16.3 million in federal funds since FY95 to establish more women's shelters and bolster law enforcement, prosecution and victims' services. And in October 1999, the University of Arizona was awarded $421,006 to help address sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking on campus. [through FY99]
• Nearly $969,000 in Grants for Battered Women and Children: In FY99, Arizona received nearly $969,000 in HHS's Family Violence Prevention Program grants to assist women and children fleeing domestic abuse.
• Over $6.9 Million to Keep Drugs & Violence Out of Arizona's Schools: Arizona receives over $6.9 million in FY00 for the Safe & Drug Free Schools Program, which invests in school security and drug prevention programs.

MOVING ARIZONA RESIDENTS FROM WELFARE TO WORK

• 106,225 Fewer People on Welfare: There are 106,225 fewer people on welfare in Arizona now than there were at the beginning of 1993 -- a 55% decrease. [through 6/99]
• Child Support Collections Up 207%: Child support collections have increased by over $96 million—or 207% -- in Arizona since FY92 [through FY98].
• Encouraging Responsible Choices—Preventing Teen Pregnancy in Arizona: Since 1993, President Clinton and Vice President Gore have supported innovative and promising teen pregnancy prevention strategies, with significant components of the strategy becoming law in the 1996 Personal Responsibility Act. The law requires unmarried minor parents to stay in school and live at home or in a supervised setting; encourages "second chance homes" to provide teen parents with the skills and support they need; and provides $50 million a year in new funding for state abstinence education activities. Efforts are making a difference, adolescent pregnancy rates and teen abortion rates are declining. And between 1991 and 1997, teen birth rates declined 13.6% in Arizona.
• $68.1 Million for Arizona Welfare-to-Work: In 1998, Arizona received $9 million in Federal welfare-to-work state formula grants (the state matched $4.5 million in funding), helping Arizona welfare recipients get and keep jobs. In addition, in 1999 and 1998 a total of $11.4 million in competitive grants were awarded to Arizona localities to support innovative welfare-to-work strategies and Native American tribes in Arizona received $2.7 million in Federal funding. Part of the President's comprehensive efforts to move recipients from welfare to work, this funding was included in the $3 billion welfare to work fund in the 1997 Balanced Budget Act.
• Helping People Get to Work: Through the Access to Jobs initiative, the Clinton-Gore Administration is working with communities across the country to design transportation solutions to help welfare recipients and other low-income workers get to and from work. Maricopa County and Coolidge have received a total of $1.1 million this year to fund innovative transit projects.

INVESTING IN ARIZONA'S HEALTH

• Health Care for Over 26,000 Uninsured Arizona Children: In 1997, President Clinton passed the largest single investment in health care for children since 1965 -- an unprecedented $24 billion over five years to cover as many as five million children throughout the nation. This investment guarantees the full range of benefits that children need to grow up strong and healthy. Two million children nationwide have health care coverage thanks to the President's plan, including 26,807 in Arizona. [HHS, Health Care Financing Administration, FY99 SCHIP enrollment data]
• More Toddlers Are Being Immunized: As a result of the President's 1993 Childhood Immunization Initiative, childhood immunization rates have reached an historic high. According to the CDC, 90% or more of America's toddlers received the most critical doses of each of the routinely recommended vaccines in 1996, 1997, and again in 1998 —surpassing the President's 1993 goal. In Arizona in 1998, 91% of two-year olds received the vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis; 89% received the vaccine for polio; 88% received the vaccine for measles, and 90% received the vaccine for Haemophilus influenzae B, the bacteria causing a form of meningitis.
• Helping Over 142,000 Arizona Women and Children with WIC: The Clinton Administration is committed to full funding in the Special Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). In FY99, Arizona received over $84.9 million in total WIC grant funding, helping 142,510 women, infants and children in need receive health and food assistance, 31,510 more than in 1994. [through 8/99]
• Funding for HIV/AIDS Assistance Programs: In FY 2000, Arizona will receive $2.6 million in Ryan White Title II formula grants. This funding provides people living with HIV and AIDS medical and support services. Also through the Ryan White Act, Arkansas will receive $5.2 million for state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs), which help those without insurance obtain much needed prescription drugs. There has been a tenfold increase in ADAP funding in the last four years, up from $52 million in 1996 to $528 million in 2000. [HHS, Health Resources and Services Administration, 4/7/00]
• Tobacco Plan Will Cut Smoking and Premature Deaths by 35% in Arizona: The Clinton Administration's tobacco proposal, combined with the recently enacted state tobacco settlements, will cut youth smoking and resulting premature deaths by 35% in Arizona by 2004. Between 2000 and 2004, 51,000 of Arizona's youth will be kept from smoking and 16,300 will be spared a premature tobacco-related death. [Treasury Dept., 2/99].
• 1,720,000 Americans in Arizona Cannot Be Assured They Have Patient Protections: Even if Arizona enacted all the protections in the Patients' Bill of Rights, 1,720,000 people in Arizona cannot be assured they have the comprehensive patient protections recommended by the President's Advisory Commission. This is because the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) may preempt state-enacted protections. That is why the President has called on Congress to pass a federally enforceable patients' bill of rights so that everyone enrolled in managed care may have a basic set of protections. Notably, 830,000 Arizona women are in ERISA health plans and are therefore not necessarily protected. Women are particularly vulnerable without these protections because they are greater users of health care services, they make three-quarters of the health care decisions for their families, and they have specific health care needs addressed by a patients' bill of rights.

PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT

• 2 Toxic Waste Sites Cleaned Up in Arizona: Since 1993, the EPA has completed two Superfund toxic waste cleanups in Palo Verde and Phoenix, Arizona. Only one site was cleaned during the previous two administrations. [through 3/1/00]
• $7.9 Million in Safe Drinking Water Funding: This year [FY00], thanks to President Clinton, Arizona will receive $7.9 million for the Drinking Water State Revolving Funds to provide low-interest loans to municipalities to build, improve, and prevent pollution of drinking water systems.
• Revitalizing Brownfields Projects in Arizona: As part of the Clinton-Gore Administration's efforts to clean up Brownfields, the EPA has awarded grants to communities in Arizona—Navajo Nation, Phoenix, Tohono O'odham Nation, and Tucson—for environmental clean-up and economic revitalization. These projects are intended to jump-start local clean-up efforts by providing funds to return unproductive, abandoned, contaminated urban properties to productive use.

SPEARHEADING URBAN AND RURAL RENEWAL EFFORTS

• Revitalizing Arizona's Communities: Phoenix and the Arizona Border were designated Enterprise Communities in December, 1994 and were awarded $3 million each to create more jobs, housing, and economic opportunity for area residents. In 1999, Window Rock was named a Rural Enterprise Community.
• Expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Will Help Develop 1,100 To 1,300 New Affordable Housing Units in Arizona Over the Next 5 Years: Last year, the President and Vice President pushed for a 40-percent expansion in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. This year, the President and Vice President will try again to enact tax incentives to develop affordable housing. In Arizona alone, this proposal would mean an additional 1,100 - 1,300 quality rental housing units for low-income American families during the next five years.

PROVIDING DISASTER RELIEF

• $134.3 Million in Federal Emergency Assistance: Since 1993, Arizona has received $134.3 million in disaster relief. [FEMA, 2/29/00]

EXPANDING FUNDS FOR TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT

• Over $1.2 Billion in Federal Highway Aid: Since 1993, Arizona has received over $1.2 billion in federal highway aid. This includes $58.5 million for emergency relief in response to natural disasters and $6.9 million for scenic byways. These funds have helped generate 51,875 jobs. [through FY99]
• Over $306.9 Million in Airport Improvement Program Funds: From FY93-FY99 Arizona received over $306.9 million in Airport Improvement Program funds to help build and renovate airports, and, when necessary, to provide funds for noise abatement to improve the quality of life for residents who live near airports.
• Over $302.3 Million in Transit Funds: The Federal Transit Administration has provided over $302.3 million in funding since 1993 to support public transportation in Arizona.

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Last Updated April 2000